My wife Maria started this social media company in 1998 by posting in online forums. She did social media before social networks became popular and before Google was invented. The website went live in the Spring of 2010 after someone paid her for helping them. Since then she continued being an awesome Mom to our two children, my wife and maintained an aspiring career as a Certified Public Accountant. She is really good at what she does.

Maria recently learned that she will become a Shareholder at the CPA firm next year and decided to turn over the social media consulting business to me. I’m excited to build on and continue with what she started.

So what’s next?

I ‘ll be writing something other than song lyrics by blogging about social media and related topics. I am a professional musician by trade.

Service offerings need a refresh. I’m researching new customized offerings.

My email inbox is full of newsletters from many social media companies. Maria needs to give me a Google pocket email invite to help me keep it organized.

I’ve been reading Mashable and other social media news articles because I find social media very interesting. Interest and passion are important business components that will help this business continue to succeed.

I’ll sign off my first blog post as a proud husband. They say happy wife happy life and I’m happy that she chose to transition the business to me as she continues to excel in her Certified Public Accounting career.

What a wonderful phenomenon the ice bucket challenge is. Raising money and awareness to fight and cure ALS is social media goodness.

Me personally, I simply wrote a check. I’ve known someone who lost their fight with the disease.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. [source: http://www.alsa.org/about-als/what-is-als.html]

Join me in making a donation, visit the ALS website then select the donate button.

I’m growing weary however, many respondents are neglecting to mention ALS in the process. None the less, most affiliate the challenge with ALS. When we see someone dump water on their head, then name others we know what it’s for, right?

Many charitable causes turn to social media to spread their campaign news. The reach of social media is powerful, good news spreads.

Seek the goodness in your social surfing. Since donating the annoying videos I see of ice water dumped on top of random heads isn’t as annoying.

Did you need to wear a bikini though? Promote ALS not a lack of clothing.

Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. [via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram]

Two-thirds of Instagram users are outside the United States of America

It’s fun to use

Instagram profiles are neglected, so are posts highlighting important calls to action.

Do visitors know what you do, who you are or what services you offer?

What does my profile say?

My desire is that you know right away what I do and where to find my services.

Business growth begins as a desire from a customer.

Instagram forges a connection between personal and business. Customers know you are real, that your passion is making them happy and that you exist in many forms. Not many like fake people or fake business do they?

Tips and savvy outreach ideas:

Complete your bio with relevant information, your website is a must

Include informative text with each video and photo

Ask for a double tap

Share offers and discounts

Use Instagram direct for privately shared photos or videos

Run contests and giveaways

Use hashtags

Promote local success stories

Take candid photos of your pets to share once in a while

Develop a unique short hashtag for your business

Post a photo of your QR tag

Make a video of walking in to your location from the street right into the front door

Unplug your device, live your life. We don’t need to be socially connected all the time. Watch and see why we miss so much when glued to technology.

Gary Turk is a 27 year old writer, director and spoken word performer. He is the creator of the YouTube film ‘Look Up’, which has gained over 45 million views and has gone on to be a international hit. Watch his video below, then unplug for a while, live your life.

Web authors reach audiences with strong, clear positive messages. Customers are who we strive to reach within the ever morphing web-o-sphere.

Social media networks change, it’s inevitable.

It seems like every few months social networks change dimensions, add new features or create new ways to share. Some just go away – poof….

What’s a person to do?

Here are 5 or 7 socially adaptable efforts:

use paid advertising on a rotating basis

focus on core marketing objectives

follow common sense rules

be nice, courteous and complimentary

outreach with a solution

remain actively engaged

don’t place all your eggs in one social network basket

Social networks are businesses, right! Advertising is how they make money, so use it. Your advertising budget doesn’t have to be huge, experiment and spend what you can afford, you may be surprised at the result.

Remaining focused on core market objectives keeps you moving toward goals instead of focusing on how the changed social network impacts you. Flip it and focus.

All networks have rules, so follow them. It makes common sense.

Being nice, courteous and complimentary is memorable because you make people feel welcomed, comfortable and valuable. People remember how you make them feel and will come back for more if they like that feeling.

Solutions to problems are what many customers seek. Retain customers and gain more by using outreach with a solution in mind.

Actively posting, listening with response and conversation will keep you involved, informed and ready to garner new or old customer attention.

Changes to social networks is expected, they are afterall in business to make money with a desire to adapt to changes in our behaviour. Keeping all of your efforts to one social network is tricky because not all of our customers are just on one network, are they? There are nuances to Twitter that don’t apply to Facebook that don’t apply to Google Plus. So being on a couple networks spreads your business awareness to more than one playing field. If that one network merges with another or just goes away or loses popularity your game can still continue.

Almost 50% of all companies with an online presence also have specific content marketing strategies. Social media marketing budgets are expected to double in the next five years. SEO–search engine optimization–is more important than ever, with 33% of click-throughs going to the very first result of a Google search.

Still think your business’s social media marketing strategy is okay as it is? These tips will help you optimize, increase efficiency, and develop an online presence that will enable you to reach out to current and potential customers:

1. Listen First, Then Share Stories

According to Inc.com, some of the most successful social media marketing out there right now is from companies who tell personal stories, rather than try to sell right off the bat. This is an opportunity for you to get a bit personal and let customers get to know more about you. Creating that engaging link with your customers can make all the difference.

2. Actually Respond

Dave Kerpen, chairman of Likeable Media, reports that 60% of brands with an online presence do not respond to customers on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media, according to Inc. By responding to both praise and complaints, you’ll set yourself apart from the competition–and let customers know that you are concerned with what they have to say.

3. Keep Your Communications Relevant

You don’t have to constantly, actively push sales through social media in order to keep your content targeted toward your audience. Providing helpful information and newsy bits keeps customers in touch and coming back for more. Need info about the latest in online security? Customers know they can log on to their favorite social media site, or just look up LifeLock’s Twitter page and find relevant info. Find your niche and give your audience the same kind of targeted information.

4. Diversify

Making sure your company has a presence on all the major social networks keeps your name out there, and prevents unruly web surfers from creating similar accounts with negative information that can derail customers. Also, tailor your social media to each network. You wouldn’t post the same in-depth article on Facebook as you would on LinkedIn Instagram. You’d focus almost exclusively on visual appeal. According to Wordstream.com, you should also stay active on Google+, which is likely to become a key player in the next few months and years.

5. Choose the Right Niche to Target

AudienceBloom.com offers a fantastic semi-statistical breakdown of the biggest social networks out there, their likely growth over the next few years, and the slices of population that favor each. Did you know that Google+ is dominated by men (70% of users are male)? Or that on Pinterest, college-educated women claim 75% of user accounts? Focus your social media on the networks most pertinent to your business’s niche.

5. Don’t Expect Immediate Magic

Patience and persistence are the kings of social media marketing; simply updating your business’s Facebook page or creating a Twitter account isn’t going to boost sales overnight. Stick with it, keep updating your pages and responding to customers’ comments and concerns, and work to target content to provide vital, interesting information about yourself and your products. Over time, you’ll be impressed by the results.

Guest post by: Britney Nicholsen

Britney runs the marketing department for a real estate firm while preparing to go back to school for her masters in English. She blogs to keep her writing skills sharp.

It’s well-established in the business press that mobile payments are a growing trend among businesses and consumers. Business Intelligence reported in October 2013 that credit and debit cards are being replaced by smartphones with mobile wallets and payment applications, further bolstered by QR (Quick Response) codes and the smartphone-driven Square Reader.

If you are the owner of a small or medium-sized business, you’re the ideal candidate for driving mobile payments. Consider adopting or converting to mobile payments and streamline the payment process for both you and your customers.

Use Social Media to Start the Conversation

Regardless of your audience’s size on Facebook or Twitter, it’s important to let them know that you’re offering or considering this convenient service. Use social media as a tool to find out your customers’ preference and purchasing habits. Try these conversation starters:

Ask customers if they currently have mobile wallets or PayPal Accounts

Find out what their experience has been using these services

Provide links to consumer reviews of mobile payment services

Invite customers to share their own thoughts or research on the topic

By opening up the conversation you might find that some of your customers are already well-versed on it, particularly if they are online customers.

If you receive less feedback than you hoped for, this could be an opportunity to educate your customers about mobile payment, particularly if you have both a brick-and-mortar shop and an e-commerce site. Explain what it is, and emphasize that it’s growing and could be as routine as credit cards in a few years.

Instill Loyalty Through Mobile Payment

If your small or medium-sized business is already signed up for a mobile payment service, make it an opportunity to remind your customers how connected you are with cutting-edge technology. Be forward about making customers aware that mobile payment is an option for them, and share the benefits in both time and efficiency. As mobile payments continue to grow in popularity, customers familiar with the process are likely to seek out and remain loyal to business where it is offered.

Assuming that mobile payments continue to rise in popularity among US consumers, customers who already shop online and/or already use it will be interested to know this, and possibly drive them to shop more often at stores and sites that accept it.

Let Customers Know All Their Payment Options

Research your mobile payment services options—there’s more than just PayPal out there.

For example, in November 2013, MasterCard announced that its Simplify Commerce service will allow merchants to accept e-commerce and mobile commerce payments, regardless of the payment brand. And U.S. Bank offers U.S. Bank Go Mobile, an iTunes app that lets customers place their iPhones over a secure terminal to pay for purchases with their Visa cards.

Guest post by: Olivia Wilkins

Olivia has crowd-sourced multiple technology projects and loves to write about the tech world.

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Blog comments were social long before social networks. Interacting online, submitting feedback and comments is a mainstay of the social network.

Opening your blog to comments comes with baggage in the form of comment spam. Think email spam but take it up a few notches. My content management system of choice is self hosted WordPress. I rely on two WordPress plugins to protect against spam. One is named Akismet advertised as the worlds best way to protect your site from web spam. In addition I use GrowMap anti-spambot plugin.

Comments made with the sole purpose of gaining a backlink, which in turn will send traffic or link juice (provided the blog in question doesn’t use the nofollow tag) to the site of the spammer. Some spam comments are very explicit and come with several links to drug or gambling related sites. (definition from http://www.dailyblogtips.com/the-bloggers-glossary/).

I compare spam to a dirty window that can’t be cleaned no matter what technique is used. Spam is annoying and persists because somewhere somehow money is made from it.

Bloggers, good bloggers that is write to share valuable content with readers. Readers, good ones leave comments in praise or to debate different points of view. Smart bloggers harness the power of social media and offer social sharing buttons for readers to use. Social sharing is great and comments are too.

Responses to comments and the resulting conversations is what makes the commenting relationship social.

Many social sharing options are preferable, we’re not all on your favorite social network are we?

I find my social sharing stats within the content management back end of my wordpress website. I monitor and measure social shares often.

While we search the web for answers, take a few moments to leave comments if you can on valuable blog posts. Then tweet it, share it and post it on social networks. Good bloggers often reply. The process of interacting is welcomed here, please leave your comment below.

Social network drama – it’s everywhere. How you handle it is the question.

Our friends lacking a filter for too much information are our friends after all. Strangers who ride the drama roller coaster on the other hand can be unfollowed, unfriended or blocked. It’s simple unless it’s your friend creating and posting it all the time, then it’s a trickier decision.

You can flat out tell the drama curator that you are unfollowing or unfriending them. No explanations are needed. Or just do it, chances are they may not realize it happened. What if that’s not an option because their social connections are so small.

Drama filters:

Humans are imperfect, we all make mistakes. Do we have to share them with the whole social sphere though? If you find yourself tempted to post TMI and you are hesitating, listen to your inner voice and wait an hour. Maybe you’ll find the emotional trigger for the drama has passed and thankfully you didn’t tell Aunt Mary to stick her toe business elsewhere.

Many socially unconnected people have found friendship and conversation within their web connected network. Maybe there isn’t anyone else to speak to nearby for the venting they need to do. Let’s take the high road and use some of the drama filters above to get past it all.

My Dad used to say if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it. Advice I try to follow.

Designing an impeccable logo requires the consideration of multiple dynamics. Black and white framing strips everything away, confirming a logo is sensible in its simplest form. A logo mark is designed to complement the actual graphic, as seen on the famous Cardinals, Red Bull, Yamaha and Adidas ads. Logos need to be properly color balanced and convey a message in a simple manner.

But social media logo design changes these dynamics dramatically. By appealing to a social media platform, users are witnessing the brand in a different light. This touches on how they interact with the brand and how the logo is perceived.

There are two core strategies for tackling a social media logo design, and they are rather oppositional.

Image by Flickr user royblumenthal

Clean and Easy: Fit the Box, Get the Job Done

Many of the most effective logos are simple ones, such as Shell, USA Network and Mitsubishi. These single color and often singularly enclosed logos are visible from a distance. In a social media platform, bright graphics, advertisements and feed posts distract users. The best logo could be one that is simple and streamlined. Look at the famous Apple logo. It has recently been converted from its rainbow schematic to a single mildly transparent gray tone. Of course, Apple allows users to change their logo color on their computers, another small addition that speaks wonders about the interactivity of the company.

Buffer reports another point of concern in the fact that 189 million Facebook users use the website strictly on their mobile. On a mobile platform, screens are smaller and resolution is lower. This could potentially make a noisy and busier logo a mess on a mobile screen. Simple logos extend into a square format, are easily read from a distance and stick out among the noise of a traditional social media page.

Take, for example, the Logo Garden logo design. The company itself specializes in allowing customers to design their very own brand logo. But the logo for the company is eloquent. It follows all those simple attributes that make a logo excellent, iconic and memorable. And in the social media format, it is stacked and formatted in a cohesive and logical way. Professional graphic designers such as my favorite Garrett at Shobiz Media and Design is another great option.

Take Advantage of the Digital Format: Add Flourishes

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a great logo is adaptable. These logos have various forms and deviations that fit specific types of means. A simple logo fits for an online marketing ad; but on a T-shirt, a glorified and fantastical version of the logo is more acceptable. On a social media platform, a radiant and intricately layered logo could help tremendously. Consider the fact that a logo on social media is not limited by ink colors or ink print size. Facebook specifically allows users to post a cover. Many companies incorporate a more detailed logo into their cover design.

Guest post by: Steven Clark

Steve is a graphic designer who transitioned to being a work-from-home dad last year, after his triplet boys were born.